Author: Keiran
Title: A Rose by any other Name, fourth fic in 'Realisations' arc.
Rating: PG-13 perhaps. In fact probably less, but I don't want to have angry parents following me.
Pairings: 1x2x1, 5xS
Warnings: Wufei pov, Valentine fic.
Archive: my site can be found on my profile page. Any else? Drop me a line.
This fic has been betaed by Sundaire. waves a Go Sundaire!' flag
***
I personally think that most love stories are not only
cliché, but also over-sweetened, unrealistic or just plain dumb. Take
Tristan and Isolde for example: this is the stupidest tale I have ever
heard. And people call it a great romance! Just because they managed to fool
everybody, deceive the person they have sworn their allegiance and/or
faithfulness to, and lied *and* slept together before and after one of the
participant's marriage (and that's a huge trespass, considering the times they
lived in.) Even if they did have a surprisingly good partnership – considering
that they were of opposite sexes.
Romanticism is a myth. The
so-called tales of great love, of knights and princesses or lords marrying
orphans are nothing more than a child's illusion. This
probably explains the existence of one Relena Peacecraft's infatuation. However, in defence of fairy
tales, there is this case of soldiers and orphans…
When I first met Maxwell, I didn't think much of him. My world looked like a
zebra, with black and white stripes all over it. That
wasn't the only type of categorizing I used. Let's just say that in the other
one, Maxwell was placed right above women. The
only thing that prevented him from falling into that category was his gender
(because I can name a few women piloting Mobiles). His hair annoyed me. I know
that my own is not exactly short either, but I do not wear a braid! Now that I
know the reason behind it, however, I know such long hair wouldn't be
comfortable loose. Actually, I've always wondered how Zechs
Marquise dealt with his. Or how much gel he used. But back to
Maxwell. Almost against myself I started to talk to him, and I realized
that apart from being loud, talkative and insufferable, he was also insightful
and clever.
The day I got
my hands on his IQ test results should be dutifully noted in history as the day
that almost gave Chang Wufei a coronary. It was
obscenely high, as you may guess. It made me realize I'm not as ingenious as I
thought I was. I also realized (as subconscious as it was) that it takes more
than just knowledge to be wise. It took almost no time at all to discover how
adept he was at piloting; it took way longer to get me to discover how adept he
was at *being*.
But, people grow, people learn, people change. I stopped perceiving others as
inferior beings. Maxwell became my best friend, so I naturally started
observing him more closely. Surprisingly, the process of noticing the person
behind the cheer took a while. It took even more time to get us both
comfortable enough to relate our childhoods to each other. However, once we
finally did, you can guess I was left speechless. One thing I'd never suspect
about Maxwell is that he had lived on the streets. Naturally, he is far from
perfect manner-wise; he tends to swear a lot when he is agitated (I do it too,
sometimes. But, he and I both can be quite gallant, if the occasion calls for
it), but the sheer amount of knowledge he possesses, the things he's read, the
conclusions he draws… It amazed me. Not that my own childhood was a piece of
blueberry cake, mind you, but I never had to scrape for food or worry about
*anything* save for my grades. Yes, there was a fair share of death in my life
(I am Chinese. We *worship* the dead), take my own wife, for example. And all
the people I knew for the first fifteen years of my life soon after.
In my case, there was the buffer of being discouraged from loving (although it
didn't make it hurt any less). Maxwell, on the other hand, was encouraged to
love. From what I've understood he'd been groomed to be a priest. Damn fine
choice if you ask me.
The
conclusions I drew from it were conflicting. From what I've been taught, he
should have ended up as a quiet and withdrawn shell of a man, without the
slightest lust for life. I was rather skeptic at
first. As I drew that conclusion, I had been watching Maxwell bathe a
Bernardino on Winner's lawn. They
were both making a lot of noise, since the dog was quite young and lively and
none of the present remained dry.
Now, when I've compared the bouncing, chattering, laughing, bright mass of
energy to the slow, silent, dull and lifeless people I read about, I noticed a
discrepancy. A huge discrepancy. Therefore,
either the psychologists are not as wise as they give themselves credit for, or
Duo is some kind of an exception.
Or an alien. Being around him too much has broadened
my mind considerably. Quoting: 'Fei, there's a big
chance that an alien community is observing us from afar. So, why don't you
lose the scowl? You're making a bad impression.' Thankfully,
he was doing the smiling for us both at the time. For the
three of us if you count Yuy.
Now that we're on the subject, code name Heero Yuy, he and Maxwell are a couple
now. They've
been living together since the war, but their actual get-together happened a
year later.
It was the most unromantic of all unromantic events a man could think of. Therefore,
it isn't easy to see just why I classify their relationship as a romantic love
story. It started on a normal, mildly sunny morning. I heard a door being
closed with a little too much force. Then
it opened again.
"Shows what you know, idiot. Rest assured that I will," Yuy
said. Moments later Maxwell joined me by the Xerox machine, so naturally I
asked him what that was about.
"Had a row with my brand new, self appointed boyfriend," he replied. I blinked.
"Pardon?"
"Well, he called me an irresponsible… brat, for a lack of a better word,
for riding a motorcycle without a helmet on. So I told him he was not my
mother, to which he returned he wished he was, just so he could ground me. I
naturally told him that I wouldn't allow him to do that even if he was my boyfriend,
and voila. Got myself a date," Duo smirked. I could tell he was… pleased with
the situation.
"You seem elated," I observed.
"Nah. It's a good thing, true. So I suppose you could
say I'm happy," he shrugged. I smirked halfheartedly.
I had to admit that the idea bothered me a little. My culture, although it is
bent on tradition, has borrowed a lot from the western countries, things that
are now presented as its own. Such as disdainful views on
homosexual relationships. Well… I won't try denying that I was curious
about it, once or twice. So I did some research. I, naturally, received far
more information than I'd ever need on the subject (some people really spend
too much of their time on the web), but I also found very interesting *Chinese*
cultural references. Contrary to what I have been taught, China
had a long history of bisexuality and tolerance.
But before I get to my tolerance of the relationship, some background on Yuy would be in order. His past was far less complicated
than Maxwell's. He was brought up to be a soldier, nothing special about that,
apart from the fact that he managed to fall into the hands of a really obsessed
bastard and ended up being given far more training than he would have wanted. That
resulted in him being not just unsociable, but downright rude. The
famous ripping of Relena's invitation in half is
nothing compared to other stunts he is capable of pulling. He is also intense,
although not in the same way as Maxwell. Yuy reminds
me of a boiler. There
is nothing on the surface, but one can *feel* that everything is boiling
underneath. Maxwell is passionate all right, but with him the intensity is
directed outside, while on the inside he stays relatively calm. Calling him a
tornado sums it up quite well.
Yuy, as far as I know, has never really had someone
close to him. He is like me in that aspect, except he had virtually no one to
get close to. People need contact with another human, even if they have no idea
how to go about it. I suppose that's how Yuy
got so attached to Maxwell. He decided on a good strategy: if you have no idea
what it's all about, pretend you do and get to know someone who's an expert.
It took me a while to draw a connection between Maxwell's past and present, but
once I did, I realized that he befriended the people around him, but he only
allowed someone close if they made him feel safe. That
would explain him being with Yuy, I guess. He would
shred the world to pieces if that meant keeping Maxwell safe. I suppose it
really is a good thing, no matter the gender of their partner,
that they found someone that makes them happy. Of course, it's not like
anybody would know if they weren't. But I was supposed to talk about romance.
It would be natural to assume that a romance would blossom between Yuy and Relena Peacecraft. Or Maxwell and Hilde Schbeiker. Here,
however, enters a factor known as psychological background. If it was Winner
that Relena found on a beach, I'm certain it would
have resulted in a love story. Not because they are both blondes... at least
not entirely. It has more to do with their background – Quatre
was raised to be the 'Prince Charming.' Yuy's chances
of falling in love with a fragile princess, with all of his training, were slim
to none. For him the world was quite simple. You either are an equal
(regardless of the side you are on) or a liability (which could be understood
as both a burden and a responsibility). Hazard a guess in which category Relena fell, with her social status, manners and frailty. That
categorizing stayed with Yuy even after the war. I
doubt he'd be able to form a relationship with a person he considered a
liability.
Now Hilde is another matter. She is a soldier
herself, so definitely not a liability. She is strong and she gets along with
Maxwell well. Why they didn't become a couple I can only guess. Or could, to be more precise. I asked Maxwell about it,
sometime ago.
"See, Fei," he answered, "I really like her. And
truthfully I have no idea. But I don't think she'd be able to understand me
like Heero does. I mean, she was a soldier all right,
but she was more of a young recruit, so she doesn't really know what it was
like to go out in a real battle. I know there are friends and there are lovers,
but I don't think I'll be able to spend my life with a person who couldn't
understand all of me, down to the reason why I find it fit to have a set of
throwing knives taped to the underside of the bed and explosives behind the
microwave. You think a girl could live with that? Plus, if you spend as much
time as I have in the presence of someone who knows you so well that you don't
even have to tell him to pass you salt when you're eating, you'll fall in love
sooner or later. And it doesn't hurt at all that he's hot as hell. Although, I
have to admit, I thought I was straight until him," he added as an
afterthought. "Perhaps we all have some hidden gay tendencies."
I nearly choked at the lecherous smirk he gave me. "Maxwell! You had me drunk
that time!"
He laughed merrily. I sighed. Life is never simple when Maxwell is around.
I asked Yuy the 'why didn't you get together with the
girl' question a day later. His answer, however, was much less sophisticated:
"What he said. Only the girl has less good sides." (To
be quite honest, he added: 'I'd be grateful if you tried any future 'hidden gay
tendencies' on someone else rather than my boyfriend.' And not just added, he
*added*. Punctuating the statement by messing up my collar).
That more or
less cleared the problem for me. The
funny thing is, that when I told Sally all of it, her only comment was 'How
cute they both are…' accompanied by a sigh. What is it with women and gay men?
I personally can't see anything alluring in them. Other than two of them being
my best friends, of course. However, after careful pondering on both their
characters, I was finding the idea of them being an item more and more
appealing. Not enough to try and crawl in-between, thank you very much, more like 'Thank
God, neither of them is a woman, I fear to think what their children would be
like.'
Where is the romance, you ask? Where are the candlelit dinners, the flowers and
the serenades under a balcony? What's romantic in living together, cooking,
cleaning and every other chore you can think of? Surely there is nothing to
make one think of them as a perfect couple. Especially when said couple tends
to beat the hell out of each other, and it's not entirely uncommon to see them
walk in to work with a shiner or two. It is better to be in the next country
when they are fighting.
I thought about relationships, long and hard. Women need all the romanticism. I
fail to understand why. But I care for Sally very much, so I decided I would
make her happy if it killed me. A little flowery speech wouldn't, or so I
hoped. And since you need to know what you have to aim for, and I was raised to
aim for nothing short of success, I kept close tabs on the pair. I wasn't
really getting anywhere, until that day when I accidentally walked in on
Maxwell and Yuy after a Preventers'
raid. Maxwell killed a man during that mission.
He never really liked killing. Oh yes, there was a fair share of 'bite the
ground, motherfucker' and 'none shall escape Shinigami's
wrath' but… he hated killing. It just wasn't who he was, as a person. He
wouldn't, of course ever show that he felt bad. Something was left in him from
the life on the streets – 'never show your weakness, to a friend or foe.'
That one
night I saw him cry. No hysteria, no tears, but he was crying quietly. Not that
it would look like he was crying to anybody else. He was sitting in Yuy's lap, clutching at his shirt, whispering something I
couldn't really make out. And Yuy was sitting calmly,
just holding him tight enough to leave bruises. I left very quickly afterwards.
I didn't want to disrupt their privacy.
I went back home where Sally was waiting for me. I saw her smile and suddenly I
knew that I wanted her to know I hurt. I had never thought to say something
like that to anybody. Not even my esteemed wife. Or perhaps
especially her. I have grown up since then.
My first attempts at being romantic were disastrous. Finally, I gave up and
left the matter entirely to the Maxwell-Yuy duo, who
arranged a perfect candlelit dinner in our flat, which Maxwell cooked, got Yuy to serve, and then both cleaned up and disappeared,
leaving the two of us in a perfect atmosphere and mood. *That*
night was flawless. I even got over having to listen to the rules of
Wu-romanticism. Take
a guess at who made them up – you have three tries and the first two don't
count.
It, namely mine and Sally's relationship, didn't exactly go smoothly. It took
me months to start opening up to her fully. Amazingly enough, it feels pretty
good, knowing that there is a person you can open up to, who will accept you
for what you are and won't expect any miracles on your part. We have grown a
lot closer since that time, since I realized that the one thing that made Yuy and Maxwell so perfect for each other was that they
didn't hesitate to bare their weaknesses. Surprisingly, that works, I noticed. They
don't expect miracles from each other, so they don't miss them.
They just
live (or at least Maxwell does, hauling Yuy behind
him).
***The End***
So, how did it go?
